Paralysed person seeking mercy death dies

Ranchi, April 13 (IANS) He sought presidential sanction for euthanasia, but was relieved of his pains once and for all Sunday. Dilip Machua, 30, a slag picker in the steel city of Jamshedpur, met with an accident in November. Paralysed as a result, he wrote to President Pratibha Patil April 4 seeking permission for mercy death.

Machua died Sunday morning at the Mahatma Gandhi Hospital.

“Dilip died in hospital. He was suffering acute pain in his bones which had got damaged in the accident,” said Ram Singh Munda, general secretary of Bustee Vikas Samiti, which helped Machua in his treatment.

Munda said Machua was deeply worried about the future of his two daughters. “We will request the government to fulfil his last wish. He wanted his daughters to be adopted by the government after his death,” said Munda.